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Writers Ratify Contract, Ending Longest Strike

By ALJEAN HARMETZ, Special to the New York Times

Published: August 8, 1988

HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 7—
The five-month strike by 9,000 movie and television writers is officially over.

By a vote of 2,111 to 412, members of the Writers Guild of America today ratified a new four-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, ending the longest Writers Guild strike in Hollywood history. Balloting was conducted in Los Angeles and New York.

Commenting on the results, Mona Mangan, Writers Guild, East executive director, said: ''After a long and difficult strike, we now have an agreement that provides significant improvements for writers, and we have fought back attempts to permanently undo past gains.''

The contract provides improvements in creative rights for the writers of original screenplays and television movies and an extremely modest financial gain when one-hour television shows are sold to stations abroad. The existing formula for foreign residuals pays a writer a maximum of about $4,400 for a one-hour show. Under the new plan, the writers would have the option of the existing formula, or a new plan that would pay them 1.2 percent of the producer's foreign sales. The latter option would apply as long as the payment is not less than 85 percent of the current residual.

But the writers were forced to accept a sliding formula for when episodes of one-hour shows are syndicated to American television stations after their network runs. New Formula In Place

Under their previous contract, writers earned a maximum of $16,920 in residual payments for six showings of each episode of a series like ''Murder, She Wrote'' or ''Hunter'' when it was sold to independent television stations. The first priority of the producers was to eliminate that fixed residual because one-hour shows have been doing poorly in syndication and the producers said the fixed residual made it too expensive to sell the shows. Under the new formula, a writer could receive as little as $8,460 per episode for six showings. If the market changes, he could earn as much as $25,380.

Last Thursday night, the board of the Writers Guild of America, West and the council of the Writers Guild of America, East agreed to ratify the contract by a vote of 26 to 6. But 6 of the 18 members of the Los Angeles board rejected the contract because of their disappointment over the new residual formulas.

According to writers at today's membership meeting, the six dissenters said the final contract was not enough better than a June 16 contract offer that had been unanimously rejected by the board. Brian Walton, executive director of the guild who recommended ratification, got standing ovations at the beginning and the end of his presentation. Frustrations Remain

Speaking to the Television Critics Association at a meeting in Los Angeles Friday, leaders of the guild and the alliance made conciliatory statements but still managed to hint at the frustrations that remain in the wake of the 22-week strike. George Kirgo, president of the 6,000-member western segment of the guild, attacked a group of dissident writers who had been putting pressure on the guild to settle for an offer the producers made on June 16. Mr. Walton, who is also chief negotiator for the guild, was still upset that the networks had refused to buy programs from small producers who had signed interim contracts with the guild.

After the result of the balloting were announced, Nicholas Counter, president of the alliance, issued a statement that read in part: ''Throughout these negotiations our fundamental objective was to pursue a responsible and fair resolution that addressed both the creative and business aspects of today's evolving entertainment industry. We believe the successful outcome of these negotiations was a direct result of the unified position of the companies represented by the A.M.P.T.P.''

This was the longest writers' strike in Hollywood history, surpassing by one day the Writers Guild strike of 1960. It was the third longest strike in Hollywood history; two musicians' strikes lasted longer, one in 1944, and another in 1981.